Mizuna greens probably originated in China, but are now considered an important part of Japanese culture and cuisine. People have been eating these greens for more than 5,000 years, starting in the Himalayan region of India. Mustard greens are established worldwide as a culinary delight, with different varieties featuring in Chinese, Indian, and Southern cooking (of the American variety), to name a few.īut this is no modern trend. They reach full maturity anywhere from 37 to 70 days, but usually right at 45 days. Most are ready for baby leaf harvest in 21 days. All are edible, cool-season vegetables, and all have at least a little of that signature spicy zing.Įach variety, from Asian greens to the newest hybrids, to the old-school Southern staples like ‘Florida Broadleaf,’ can also be harvested as baby leaf salad greens. Still, this relatively expansive group has plenty of shared traits that help define it. Most of those species are grown more for their seed than their leaves, and I’ll be concentrating on the B. alba and reclassified in a different genus. nigra or Sinapis alba, which was formerly known as B. Others, like ‘Red Giant,’ are Japanese.Īnd this hodgepodge of Brassicaceae family members includes some that fall into the species B. There are a few, like ‘Amara,’ that originated in Africa and are cultivars of the B. japonica, while the latter, with its spoon-shaped greenery, is a type of B. The former, with its narrow, jagged-edge leaves, is a B. I had eaten the much milder baby Asian greens like mizuna and tatsoi in the past, never suspecting they, too, were mustards. Or they can make a meal, paired with a stick-to-the ribs bowl of beans and a fresh skillet of cornbread. Usually, they’re simmered with pork or in ham broth as a side dish, and served alongside Sunday roasts or Friday fried fish. Here, home cooks and cooks at local diners prepare the spicy large leaf varieties like ‘Garnet Giant,’ and most of them are members of the Brassica juncea species. I live in an Appalachian area, in Knoxville, Tennessee. I’ve discovered the wide range of veggies that belong to this branch of the Brassicaceae family, and I’m excited to share them with you. I’d just been blithely living my life, eating mesclun, enjoying stir fry from a local Japanese restaurant – and eating a lot more mustard than I realized.īut now I know what’s what. We’ll dig into the details right away, so you’ll have a working knowledge – before you know it! – of the best ways to grow and care for mustard greens.įull disclosure: Up until a few years ago, I didn’t understand quite how extensive the selection of mustard greens was. So you’ve got plenty of options, and plenty of time, but let’s not waste a second. Most mustards are also happy to grow in containers, provided there is enough space, moisture, and well-drained, nutritious potting soil to meet their needs. You could plant a tasty combo that’s ready for harvest in just nine or 10 days! They are excellent candidates for growing as microgreens, too, either on their own or in a mix of fellow Brassicas. If one doesn’t do well, or its taste is not to your liking, you can grow baby leaves of another within a few weeks. But first I must reassure you that having “so little time” will not be as much of an issue here as it may with other garden vegetables.Īll of the many available types grow quite quickly. I could happily list many more, and I will, in a bit. If you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. We link to vendors to help you find relevant products.
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